the use of ista international orange certificates in the ... · "the use of ista international...

"The use of ISTA International Orange Certificates in the vegetable seed industry".

•Outlines:• Customer demands• Vegetable seed industry characteristics• The use of ISTA OICs in the vegetable seed

industry• Differences between Agricultural and Vegetable

seed movements• Needs• Questions to solve

"The use of ISTA OICs in the vegetable seed industry".

o The right Varietyo Healthy seeds ( free from seedborne diseases)o High % Usable plantso Clean seeds ( seed purity)o Delivered at the right moment

Customer demands

• Breeding in > 30 crops• Global industry ( active > 100 countries) • Enormous increase of cross-border shipments

o Low volumes, many shipping optionso High valueo Many types of deliveries

o Different laws in relation to text on packaging• Faster deliveries Late decision-making by

professional growers

Vegetable seed industrycharacteristics

• Shorter life cycle varietieso Competition, resistance breakthrough, new

breeding techniques, professional growers don’tuse a variety for more than 2-3 years Lesstime for processing

• Faster development of new varietieso many varieties/cropo more diversification per crop (CROP TYPES)

more varieties (16.000 EU variety list)• Many seed lots

o Smal quantities per variety, high value. (lettuce example average/ variety

about 7 -10 million seeds)

Vegetable seed industry characteristics

Preparing batches -Make to Order- at the latest moment:o Which product form? Naked seed, filmcoated or pellets

o Primed shorter shelf life Less logistical timeo Trial priming in advance quality data

o Different chemical treatments/country (fungicides/insecticides.)o trial treatment quality data

o Different seed health issues/countryo Different text on end packaging/countryo Some products need a long time to prepare.

• Process control Quality data produced during seedproduction, processing until packaging test after packaging more a confirmation and can not be a surprise.


• Relevance of seedborne diseases is increasingo More treatmentso More retests of germination and seedborne diseases

• Primed seeds asks foro specific types of tests

o Usable plant tests

o Stress tests

• Knowledge from the local/market:o Realistic product specificationso Good internal standard system

In practice this means a differentiated quality system


Activities outside EU 2011 (Estimation)

Varieties> 15.000

Batches > 85.000

Shipments>270.000

Countries>100

Crops>30

Crop types >70

Release for sale procedure

A high % of batches are released based on excistingusable plant test and stresstest information.

(excluding ISTA countries OICs)

• Most of our customers except their order without a certificate

• Some needs a certificate The quality score is based on quality data produced after every process step. After packaging no quality tests

This is wat we call “any time principle “

Customers knows our Product specifications. (ESA)We act according to the product specs.

Pedigree (cabbage)

process steps sizeseed purity

usable plant % seed health

Phoma Xanthomonas

original batch ok 88 ok not ok

trial fungicide coated ok 92 inherited not ok

Sizing 1.5-1.75 ok 80 inherited not ok


trial Xan. treated 1.75-2.00 ok 97 inherited ok

Xan. treated 1.75-2.00 ok 98 inherited ok

fungicide coated 1.75-2.00 ok 98 inherited inhereted







Next to the optimal quality control process, it needs an optimal quality assurance system: • Good procedures and work instructions!!!• And well trained/motivated employees

625 kg

575 kg

655 kg

590 kg

650 kg

320 kg


Working with professional customers Asks a high Responsibility.

1.000.000 Pills (1kg) 15.000 euro

Value for the grower 375.000 euro

250.000 tomato seeds (1kg) 50.000 Euro

Value for the grower 3.500.000 Euro

• Certificate is a passport to markets• Accepted in many countries• Mandatory for export to a number of

countries• Independent• Transparent

The use of ISTA OICs in the vegetable seed industry

• More varieties/crop and shorter life cycle• Quantity of seeds/ order is much smaller• More orders• More complex processing and quality control

longer leadtime• Value (including the aspect value for the grower)• Sampling

• 16-30 containers 15 primary samples from the seed lot• 1-59 20 • 60 - > 30• Veg. Seed industry, every bag/container sampled.

Differences between Agricultural and Vegetable seeds

• Bulk <-> Smallweight min sub. Working samples

ton sample Purity Other seeds

• Allium porrum Hybrids 10 70 7 70

• Apium graveolens 10 25 1 10

• Brassica oleracea Hybrids 10 100 10 100

• Capsicum Hybrids 10 150 15 150

• Cichorum endiivia 10 40 4 40

• Cucumis sativus Hybrids 10 150 70 -

• Lactuca sativa 10 30 3 30

• Lycopersicon Hybrids 10 15 7 -

• Solanum melongena Hybrids 10 150 15 150

Differences between Agricultural and vegetable seeds

NEEDS

• Speed• Flexibility• Ease of process• Use of information generated in earlier

steps of the process history of a seed lot• Focus on Germination/usable plants

and physical purity

• In general to learn the system more in detail • Packaging after testing?• Idem to print certificates for pre-packed seeds,

with already existing quality data?• Fast implementation and validation of new test

protocols? (e.g. usable plant tests)• Inheritance of specific test results?

(physical purity, weeds, seed borne diseases)

• Any time principle use of already existingquality data?

Questions to solve

• More and intensive cooperation, not manyvegetable Seed companies are ISTA accredited, why?

It needs an answer and we hope an answer thathelps us to develop, together with the ISTA organisation, a new aproach that meets the current and future needs of internationallyoperating professional vegetable companies.

o Can ISTA build an OIC-system focused onthe demands of the modern professional vegetable seed industry?

Questions to solve

• ISTA wants to meet the key demands of the vegetable seed industry

• To improve the ISTA Rules in order to meet the needs of the international Vegetable seedsector

As Vegetable Seed Industry we have the samewish:

• We propose to form a Working group with the intention to develop a workable situation.

Already defined ISTA wishes

Thanks for your attention

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